Lee visits Japan as scout in US-Japan-S. Korea military cooperation: KCNA

Pyongyang on Monday slammed South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's Saturday visit to Japan, calling him a "scout" for the military cooperation among Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

Lee's trip to Japan and his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Saturday in Tokyo marked a departure from the diplomatic practice of his predecessors, who made their first foreign visits to the United States after taking office as president of the Republic of Korea (ROK), said the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in a commentary on Monday.

Lee's visit aims to show Washington "his firm attitude of giving high priority to the ROK-Japan relations" and toughening the bilateral ties as "an axle of the U.S.-Japan-ROK triangular military alliance," which will lead to further escalation of the regional security crisis, said the article.

The commentary noted that "the structure and function of the aggressive U.S.-Japan-ROK triangular military alliance will be further enhanced through the strengthening of cooperation between the ROK and Japan, and this will have a grave effect on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia."

Stressing the risk brought by the South Korea-Japan summit, the article said the agenda of the Lee-Ishiba meeting showed the two countries' "intention to actively participate in carrying out the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy."

"It heralds the more catastrophic security environment to be created in the near future," it said.

"The DPRK will never remain a passive onlooker to the worrying situation being created by the U.S. and its followers seeking hegemony," warned the commentary.